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Join Date: Jul 2004

Location: Eggborough UK

Posts: 8,101

Beta-Alanine (B-A)

For some time now Beta-Alanine has been touted as the 'super' replacement for creatine, some claim at upto 10x the effects of creatine but without any creatine side effects (stomach issues etc), it has been accepted that the amino acid B-A is involved as a rate-limiting precursor of carnosine but not as a precursor of protein.

One recent study (Smith et al, 2009), found that high intensity interval training (HIIT) was effective and efficient in inducing significant aerobic improvements. The study authors concluded that beta-alanine supplementation may further enhance HIIT training by improving both endurance performance and lean body mass. The dose of beta-alanine in this particular study was 6 g per day for the first 3 weeks, then followed by 3g per day for the following three weeks.

An additional study (Hoffman et al, 2008) found that beta-alanine supplementation increased training volume and reduced subjective feelings of fatigue in college football players. The dosage of beta-alanine in this study was 4.5g per day.

[At high doses, beta-alanine can cause side effects including paraesthesias or a sensation of "pins and needles" in your limbs.]

This then puts forward the question of dosing and what is best

1. 5g pre-workout
2. 5g split pre/post workout
3. 1g 5 times a day

after reading the above snippits i had another idea of combining the above with standard practice for creatine in the form of loading then maintaning the beta-alanine levels in the form of